The Circus Comes to Town

Last week the circus came to La Grande and we decided to go as a family. We have never been to a circus before and figured that a quality circus would never come to rural Oregon. However, we were pleasantly surprised. There were some really exciting acts and some fun animals like the tigers, lions, and elephants. Despite the rain and wind and cold, we had a wonderful time together. Here is a picture of the girls standing by a bear. The video is of the girls riding the elephant!! Are our girls cool or what? For the rest of their lives they'll be able to tell people that they once rode on an elephant!

Living Room Campout

The girls decided that they wanted to have a campout outside. This would have been just fine except that the nights are still too cold here to be sleeping outside. So we camp up with a compromise and they camped out in the living room instead. We thought that they would give up during the night and just crawl into their beds but they made it through the whole night of sleeping on the hardwood floor and lots of blankets. It was pretty cute!

Joy School Graduation

Samantha completed her first year of preschool and we are quite proud of our little girl. We had a family dinner with the other families involved in the joy school program and a little graduation ceremony where Samantha and her classmates sang songs and received a "diploma" from Miss Karen. She learned so much this year and is looking forward to one more year of preschool.

Last Day of School

Emma completed her kindergarten school year on June 4th. Samantha and I were able to go to her classroom and sing songs and play games with the rest of the kindergarten class and then there was a school wide BBQ afterwards. The year went by so quickly and Emma loved every minute of it! She is going to miss Mrs. Huntington as her teacher and miss all of her classmates. We're so proud of Emma and all of her accomplishments!!!

My sister Shellie and her husband Joshua were in town visiting this weekend from Wyoming. It was also my other brother-in-law's birthday (Bryce) so as a family we decided to get together at another park in the mountains by our home and have a BBQ. It was the perfect day for a picnic and we all had a great time together. Here is Sam and Emma with their cousin Karlie.
Grampa, Emma, and Karlie taking a little break.....
Here is Samantha sitting and having a little rest
For some reason the guys thought they needed to eat lunch together - away from the wives and away from the children. Gee.... wish us girls would have thought of that.
All the cousins together. Ashlynne and Myah are alot older than the other cousins so they are really good sports about playing with the younger kiddos.
Some of the kids and grownups went on a little hike together. When they came back Gramma had sliced up a watermelon so everyone could have a refreshing and cool treat.
We had a water balloon throwing contest so here are a couple of shots of Emma and Sam hitting the target!

It sure was a great way to spend the day!

Pretty Girls

I was trying to take a nice picture of the girls in front of our lilac bush. The sun was in Emma's eyes and Sam felt the need to stick her tongue out with every shot.....We finally were able to get a good picture of them. Oh, how we love our sweet girls!

Memorial Day Picnic

On Saturday my parents drove to La Grande to see us and to spend the afternoon having a picnic with us. We met at one of the State Parks close to town and had a really fun time together. The girls love being with Gramma and Grampa! The weather was perfect and the company was even better! Grampa helped Sam on her bike. This year she has a bike with training wheels and she is doing so well on it!

The State Park has the Grande Ronde River which runs throught it. It's really high this time of year so we couldn't let the girls too close. By late summer the river will be down low enough that the kids can swim. We'll need to wait a couple more months for that.

Cookie Frenzy

For a few weeks now Emma has been asking me if she could hold a "Cookie Frenzy" with her friends. She wanted to be able to invite a few friends over and then spend some time making different kinds of cookies. Last Friday there was no school so we thought it would be a good time to have her friends get together. They had a wonderful time baking and playing outside. They helped to make three different kinds of cookies so they were sufficiently loaded up with sugar by the time I took them all home.....I'm sure the parents were thrilled. I think we'll have to make it an annual event for us.

Famous Idaho Potato Half-Marathon

Today finally arrived for the half marathon which I have been training for the last three months. Yesterday afternoon we drove to Boise to pick up our registration packets and to get settled into the hotel ahead of time. Then we met up with all the girls who were participating to get some dinner and make plans to meet up early this morning. We caught the shuttle to our starting point at 6:45 and drove the 13 miles to a reservoir outside of town. The drive seemed to take forever and I was getting more and more nervous. But when the race started it was really exciting to be a part of something like this. There were over 800 people who ran in the race and everyone was very happy to be there.

Because Mark and the girls were going to have to wait for a few hours when they dropped me off at the shuttle, they played around the park where the race was being held and also went to the zoo which the girls loved!

The day was warm and sunny and ended up being fairly ideal for a race. All of the volunteers were awesome and were great cheerleaders. Every two miles there was an aid station with water or gatorade and power bars if needed. Our route started out on the outskirts of the city and followed the river and then through the city and finally into Ann Morrison Park for the finish. For me it was miles 10-13 that were the toughest. It was hard to stay positive knowing you still had three miles, then two miles, then one mile when you've already gone so far. But when we turned the corner into the park there was a huge crowd that had gathered to cheer on the competitors so we sprinted as fast as we could the last half mile until we crossed the finish line. I was soooo glad to be done, but also soooo glad I had stuck to my goal to complete this race. The best part was seeing my husband and kids at the finish and then receiving lots of hugs and kisses from them. I wouldn't have wanted to do this if they couldn't be a part of it. Unfortunately we don't have the greatest camera and the kids were not behaving very well so the pictures are kind of limited that Mark was able to get. But here we are at the end, very happy to have accomplished our goal.

You can't see my number, but I was #697. Hooray for myself, Karen, CarrieAnn, Jeannette, Haley, and Elise! You gals are awesome! 'Til next year!!!

Special Visit

This past week Mark's brother, Matt, was in the Tri-Cities for a business trip. We live two hours away from the Tri-Cities but we rarely get to see anyone from Mark's family because of distance, so we drove over on Thursday night to spend some time with Uncle Matt. It was a really nice visit, even though it was a short one. We had some yummy ice cream and had a lot of good laughs. The girls were just tickled to be able to see their uncle. Hopefully it won't be another two years before we see him again.

Week Ten Marathon Update

Today was an easier day in the training schedule. It only asked for five miles. Considering how last week was twelve miles, today was so much better. I didn't have many opportunities to get out and train during the week because Mark was out of town on a business trip, so this morning I just took it slow and enjoyed being out in the cool morning. It's hard to believe that next Saturday is the big day!

Girls Night Out

Last night the Ballroom Dance Company from Southern Utah University was in La Grande doing a performance at the high school. Thanks to my friend Olivia, we were able to snag a few tickets and have a Girls Night Out. It was so fun to spend the evening with my special little girls. The costumes were beautiful and the dancing was so neat to watch! What an amazing talent to have! The girls were completely intrigued the whole night and were quite disappointed when it was finished. Mark was on a business trip all week so it was a really wonderful experience to cap off our week together before Daddy came home. Emma keeps asking when she'll be able to see them again.

Week Nine Marathon Update

Today was the big day in the training program. We went TWELVE MILES! Our route was between two little towns outside of La Grande. I was a little nervous this morning when I woke up and realized that it was raining. I just decided to go ahead with plans and keep my fingers crosssed that the rain would stop. It was a 15 mile drive out to Cove where we began but the rain was still coming down by the time I started. It was actually very beautiful. The rain wasn't coming down hard - just a light shower - and it was a perfect temperature. Plus, there was no wind at all which I was very grateful for. I'd much rather work out in the rain than in the wind. The first six miles or so went great - I stayed right with the pace that I had set for myself. I was actually pretty warm. Plus, Mark and the girls showed up around that time to cheer me on so I was very happy about that. But at about mile eight the wind came up more and the rain was coming at me sideways. Also, cars and trucks kept passing me and spraying me with water. I was thoroughly soaked. Having the wind come at me just made me have to work that much harder and my pace slowed down a bit. The other thing that was hard was that the last five miles were a straight stretch on a country road that seemed to last forever. I kept looking ahead for the turn in the road to take me into Union but it just never came! Thank goodness that Mark was there giving me gatorade and a power bar to keep my energy up. He could tell that I was having a hard time and he and the girls would roll down their windows yelling, "GO MOM, GO MOM!" It was a huge help! Finally I made the turn into Union and I knew I only had two more miles to go through town. (Coincidentally, just as I was making the turn, the song on my IPOD was the theme to "Chariots of Fire." Isn't that great?) My pace picked up a bit as I could see the stopping point ahead and my wonderful husband standing outside the car waiting for me. At this point I didn't care about my time, I just wanted to finish! I ran into his arms and I just wanted to collapse. My two little girls got out of the car and gave me big hugs. I had made it!

By the time we got home to our house, I was freezing and soaked to the bone. I have never been so thankful for a hot shower. My cute friend Alisa brought me over some muscle rub gel because my legs are pretty sore. I can't believe I actually did 12 miles - I'm really proud of my accomplishment. Hopefully the actual marathon in Boise in two weeks will be a breeze now that I've survived today! One of the great things about this morning was having our husbands and kids coming along with us and cheering us on along the way. It's so nice to have that kind of support. I'm so grateful to have this circle of friends to conquer this goal with.

Week Eight Marathon Update

This weekend was a light weekend for us. We only needed to go four miles which felt like a breeze compared to the workouts we've had for the past few weeks. It was just an easy loop to do through town and we were done fairly quickly. I kept feeling like we should be going further but the training schedule said not to. I'm pretty nervous about our upcoming workout - we'll be going ten to twelve miles!! Hopefully I'll be up for it. In preparation I'm going to be doing 4-5 miles each day, except for Friday so I can have a rest day. The big day is in less than three weeks! YIKES!!!

Happy Birthday Samantha!!!

Well our baby turned four years old over the weekend. It was a fun day but I feel sad that my little one is growing up so quickly. She is so happy to be a big girl and has been looking forward to her birthday for months now. I wish the kids weren't so eager to grow up! We did a few fun activities together. Mark and I let her have her choice of where she'd like to eat lunch and she chose McDonalds....mostly because she never gets to eat there. Then Sam and I went to watch a couple of my Young Women play in the high school softball game. Sam really enjoyed cheering for the girls! Later we went to the pizza place to have dinner which is a family tradition that the girls get so excited for! Then it was back home for cake and ice cream. On Saturday, Gramma and Grampa came for a visit and brought a few cousins with them. We had a nice day together and Sam was loaded up with even more gifts. Hopefully she felt like she had a wonderful birthday weekend!

Here's Samantha wearing her new birthday dress from Gramma and Grampa. She wore it to Church and felt very special.

The girls wanted to pose together in their Sunday dresses.

Happy Easter!

I am late in getting our Easter pictures posted but here are a few of the girls during their Easter Egg Hunt. They had a really great time searching our yard for all the treasures that the Easter Bunny left for them. They ended up with a little bit of candy and even some cash to stow away in their piggy banks! It was a busy Sunday for our family because of Church responsibilities but we did have a lovely day together.

Emergency Room Visit

I realize that this post is a couple of weeks old, but I just couldn't resist this picture of Samantha. As everyone knows, Sam is a very bouncy and energetic little girl. On Saturday night she was bouncing through the living room to come into the kitchen and as she turned the corner, her feet slipped on the hardwood floor that we have and she took a nasty little tumble. Unfortunately her thumb took the brunt of the fall and she hyperextended it pretty good. We didn't think too much of it until her hand started to swell up and turn blue. The pediatrician asked us to take her to the ER and have an X-Ray done just to be on the safe side. Everything turned out fine but she did have to wear a little splint for a few days to keep the thumb stable. She was very brave! I'd like to tell you that she learned her lesson about running through the house, but there have been many more stumbles since this incident but at least no more ER visits.

Week Seven Marathon Update

This morning I woke up really tired and I just wanted to stay in bed. I was so warm and comfy under those blankets. But I was meeting my friend, CarrieAnn at 6:30 so I knew I needed to get up. We started out and very soon met up with another friend, Annie. So the three of us went together and did eight miles. It was a little chilly when we started but by mile 3 we were nice and warm. We went all throughout the countryside and it really was beautiful. I've always gone by myself each weekend but it was so nice to have company along the way, especially by about mile 5 when we started to tire out a bit. But at mile 6 there was a car with some quick snacks and water waiting for us which we were grateful for. It was a nice pick-me-up when we really needed it. The only down side was that it took us a little longer than we thought it would - a little over two hours. We still want to finish the thirteen miles within three hours so we'll have to work a bit on picking up the pace. But it was a great accomplishment for me and I'm so glad I'm doing this. Next weekend the training schedule takes us back down to four miles so I'll have another update in a week! Happy Training!!!

Week 6 Marathon Update

I couldn't have asked for a better morning to do my workout this weekend. It rained last night so the sky was overcast, it was cool but not cold, and it was beautiful. It was great to get out and conquer SEVEN MILES! I was supposed to meet my good friend, Alisa, to work out together but she ditched me! Lisa.... when you read this you are in BIG trouble!!!! ha ha It all worked out well and I finished in an hour and a half. I would have liked to be a little faster, but I actually didn't get any workouts in during the week. I've been trying to finally kick this cold of mine and my doctor didn't want me to do much running. However I received the all clear on Friday and I feel so much better. Hopefully I'll be able to get it in gear in the coming week.

Week 5 Marathon Update

Well, a lot went on during this past week. On Wednesday morning I did a real good workout on the treadmill but when I finished, I just had a very hard time recovering. I did everything I could think of to help myself feel better but within a couple of hours I was in a full migraine and in severe pain as well as lots of vomiting. It was a horrible day and one that I don't care to ever repeat.


On Thursday I felt a good deal better but still suffered from the effects of the previous day. I saw the chiropractor on Friday morning who informed me that my neck was out in a bad way which contributed to my migraine. He asked me to take it easy on the running so I didn't work out again until Saturday morning while I was visting with family. My sisters and I did only three miles due to time constraints and the advice of my doctor but it was still a pretty good run. This morning I went ahead and walked six miles so I could get my distance in. It was a great walk and I finished in about an hour and twenty minutes.

So that's the update. I'll fill you all in next week with another update.........

The Carpenter in the Family

Mark had the day off from work today. It's a very rare thing when he has free time so he decided to build himself a work bench in the garage. After trips back and forth to the hardware store, he got to work. He had the help of two very willing little assistants who were anxious to swing their own hammers. It was a fun project for him to work on and a nice way to work off some aggressions!